New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-09-18
SUCCESSFULLY TRACING 4 TRUNK
THE SYSTEM EMPLOYED BY THE pAuRo.ns

i"A ofsrEM EMPLOYED BY THE RAILROADS IN
- FINDING LIST BAGGAGE
''S every person who has travelled much either
0 VI aoroad has been put to some Inconvenience
ny delay In forwarding baggage Sometimes this
10 que 10 carelessness the part Of the owner M the
baggage; sometimes to negligence on tho r,, 80 a..
rairoah employees. But whether due to either az
'Ho0o causes the leading railroad Companies show
COMMEMORATE prOmptness In tracing the MISSING bar
gage All OF the leading lines have a Lost bacg.c.
department." generally under the charge o; the general
'"eeaso agent OF the road. All complaints of miss
ing baggage are at once forwarded To this hurcan
rooaoy mne-tenths Of the mistakes arc made I'm trans
ierrng baggage from one line to another osncc,aIIv
"nen here are two or more roads running from that
punt 10 The city for which the baggage Is destined
puhaio Is case In point. Baggage coming In fron,
the west may arrive either by the Lake shore ths
Sanana southern, the Grand Trunk and the Great
western. the last three Canadian lines and the own
els may be coming East either by the Erie the Ncw
iorh central and Hudson River the West Shore. the
delaware Lackawanna and Western, or the Leheb
valley and Pennsylvania Railroads. mistake in
sehding IL here by the wrong road will certainly cause
delay OF day or two In delivering the baggage
thus missent, and may the loss of a steamer
Tor those intending to 60 abroad.
one Saturday morning recently TRIBUNE reporter
reached Port Huron, Mich, from a point on the Port
Huron and Northwestern Railroad Intending IN tall.
inc Atlantic Express over the Grand Trunk Railroad
lie missed the train by ten minutes but by taking tho
ferry across the St. Clair River to Port Sarnla he was
able to meet the Grand Trunk train which goes up to
Fort Gratiot, two miles above Port Huron ia ferred
over to Point Edward the Canadian shore and then
comes down to Port Sarnia, the transfer occupving
ABOUT an hour. baggage going through nom Michl-
gan to suspension Bridge the Americ an side In
placed In bonded car and Is not subject search
by the customs officials of either Government. Had
the travellers trunk been taken to sarnia by him it
would have been searched by British official and
again by Ameri official at Suspension Bridge
lie therefore left it with the station agent Of tho Port
Huron and Northern Railway, having first had IL
checked through to this city, cautoning the baggage
master to check Il over the Erie hallway. 1t could
not be forwarded before tn, owning train. The che
was gwen " an express man on the train just before
Two days later, as tho trunk had not been delly-
ered visit was made 10 James Post, general bag
gage master Of the Erie Railway. He had already
begun 10 trace It, no piece Of baggage having a check
co. responding To the delivered the eApressman
having turned up The station agent at Port Huron
evening che, kcd to New-York by tho Eric Railway
No ois4, +. IL and N W., did not appear on his
baggage list.
has Ssa sscs BY % ss
Buffalo, said Mr.. Post I" 1t will turn up all rightn
So it did on the following day lay IL had lain for two
Tie system pursued by Mr. Post and his assistants
is to begin at the starting point and follow to tho
few cases is baggage lost where the owner has
cised ordinary In checking IL. Where baggage is
stolen by means OF replacing the original checks with
others detective work comes Into play distinctive
mark on trunk is often Of considerable ad. Where
the numbers on the checks arc not duplicates there
is a greater amount Of trouble This seldom happens,
but with careless baggagemen &c docs some ines.
that IL is necessary to have the list Of check
numbers sent on from the point where the baggage
was checked for that particular day. It will be
found that there was no number on the baggage list
sent CORE pondlng with the presented for tho
missing piece OF baggage, and there was number
OF which no duplicate hal been presented at the place
OF destination When this piece Of baggage is hunted
up in the baggage 1t Will be found to be the one
looked for.